There
will be times that many of us will encounter other people at work, in college,
at school or at play who will make it their mission in life to demonstrate or
try and discredit the Bible. They will do their best to put forth some sort of
opinion on how the Bible is only a book of fairy tales or simply good stories.
Some will even go as far as to picking out what they like and want to believe
of it and leave the rest as possible myths and history. Have you ever
encountered one of these? Are you ready for such encounters if you should? I
Peter 3:15 instructs the child of God to be ready at all times to defend their
faith and the hope that is in them, in gentleness and reverence. Those things
are the core of every believer and they are what provides them with the
authenticity and validation of their faith to others. We will all leave a
legacy of our life and what we accomplished and how we impacted others by our
choices and the way we lived. Those people around us every day are eyewitnesses
of our faith and what motivated us to live the life we did and be the person we
were. When thinking about these things I am reminded about I Peter 3:15-16,
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that
those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed
of their slander.”
It
is not the believer’s responsibility to prove someone wrong that may disagree
with them, but solely to claim that which they know for themselves to be truth
and leave it up to the Spirit of God to convict, reveal and draw people to
Himself as He wins over their hearts. This safeguards the witnessing believer
and takes the pressure off of them to be right or win the disagreement. It’s
never about winning the battle, but it is always about winning the soul.
Sometimes the greatest statement that we can make to others is how we endure
the ridicule or slander that we may be subjected to. If you recall, Jesus Himself never retaliated. So
sometimes, it is our very suffering that becomes our greatest witness to
others. And when the time comes that I leave this world, the legacy I hope to
leave behind me, will be that of love, compassion and that I had done what I
could do to reach others with what I personally found to be the answer for the
hope that I believed in, embraced and entrusted.
Loving on you,
Bren
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